Li Er of the Tang Dynasty: Ancestor Xie is here!

Chapter 40 The Necessity of Developing Productivity

"When the Tang Dynasty was first established, the contradictions between various classes were not yet obvious, so there was no rush, just a gradual process."

The implication is that I know you are in a hurry, but you don't need to be in a hurry, Datang will not be finished for a while.

"In my opinion, how should the first step in the reform of the Tang Dynasty be taken?"

"Actually, the problems faced by the Tang Dynasty are, in the final analysis, nothing more than the law of dynasty cycles." Li Qing stretched out his hand to list the chart in the holographic image, "Don't think it is a high-level problem. Let me give you an example. Datang When it was first started, the population was sparsely populated with only 1000 million people.”

As he spoke, the data began to be listed in the chart following Li Qing's words.

"At this time, there were many people but little land, the conflicts were not obvious yet, and land annexation was not serious."

“But as time goes by, the population increases, and the expansion of cultivated land cannot keep up with the increase in population. In addition, small and medium-sized landowners, and even the bureaucratic class and aristocratic families annex land, resulting in more and more landless farmers. , at the end, bang..."

Li Qing snapped his fingers, and the charts in the image exploded like fireworks.

"Brother Li should know what the consequences are. Peasant uprisings like the Yellow Turban Uprising will become more and more intense. Eventually, dynasties will change and fall into a new cycle again. A new dynasty will be established, land will be annexed, and the dynasty will be destroyed..."

"Of course, this is only one of the reasons. There are also the long-term control of the promotion channels by vested interest groups, the corruption of the bureaucratic class, and various financial problems, which have gradually intensified with the passage of the dynasty."

"And the first step we have to do is..." Li Qing smiled, "The first thing we need to do is to develop productivity, that is, technology. As the saying goes, productivity determines production relations. Only when productivity improves can production relations stabilize steadily. progress."

"What are the relations of production?" Li Shimin always asked without understanding.

"In layman's terms, it is the form of generation and distribution of wealth." Li Qing tried his best to use language that Li Shimin could understand: "Let me give you an example. Take the 'rule of three generations' advocated by Confucianism. There are always people Advocate the restoration of the well-field system."

"The so-called well field system is that eight farm families cultivate nine hectares of fields together. Because it is shaped like the word "well", it is called the well field system. Eight hectares of fields are private fields for eight families to feed themselves, and the other hectares of fields are public fields. In fact, it is It’s like paying taxes.”

"The productivity at that time was not very high. They used tools called rakes to turn over the soil bit by bit. It couldn't be done by just one family, so we could only form eight families to provide a dozen or twenty strong laborers. , shouting slogans and marching in unison, the women and children at home gathered together to cook and deliver water... This was the collaborative production relationship that was limited by productivity at that time."

As Li Qing's words gradually emerged, scenes of farming in the pre-Qin era appeared on the screen. Li Shimin looked at the passionate image as if he was immersed in the scene.

"The emergence of ox farming and iron farm tools broke the original production relations. Even a single strong farmer in a household could farm enough land to make a living. Therefore, the greatest significance of the well-field system and cooperative farming no longer existed. As a result, new production relations were formed, with farmers renting land from landlords on a household basis and paying land rent in proportion.”

"This also gave birth to a new class, the landlord class. In the Han Dynasty, they were called powerful landlords, and in the Wei, Jin, Sui and Tang Dynasties, they were called family landlords... And Brother Li, you are the largest landlord in the world, a landlord Spokesperson of class.”

When Li Qing said this, he pointed at Li Shimin teasingly.

"Then what does this have to do with the dynastic periodicity?"

Li Shimin understood it, but he didn't understand the connection between the two. "Is this not easy to understand? According to the perspective of class narrative, landlords and peasants are two major antagonistic classes. In the early years of the dynasty, the two classes were in a relative balance. The class contradiction between landlords and peasants became acute. At that time, especially due to the harsh taxation of the feudal regime, a large number of farmers were desperate, and a large-scale peasant uprising broke out, eventually leading to the collapse of the dynasty."

“Every important peasant uprising hit the landlord class to varying degrees and promoted the adjustment of feudal production relations, which was conducive to the recovery and development of the social economy. The new dynasty re-carried this cycle like a dead knot. Same."

Li Qing's views are novel and enlightening, while Li Shimin's views are almost clear at first glance.

"So, what Xiandi means is to change the cyclical law of the dynasty through the development of productivity?"

Li Qing poured himself a sip of Coke to moisten his throat and continued: "If productivity develops to a certain level, such as the tractors and harvesters we saw before, then even a small amount of labor can produce large enough output. Secondly, the development of industry cannot be separated from a huge labor force, and factories can also absorb a considerable number of desperate landless farmers and transform them into workers, thus preventing them from taking risks and rebelling."

"Of course, I still suggest that Brother Li pay more attention to the treatment of workers. If they are forced hard, the energy that will burst out will be much greater than the peasant uprising."

"Brother, of course I know." Li Shimin nodded heavily.

Li Qing nodded with great style: "Brother Li is doing the work, I can rest assured."

"In addition, Li Zhi and Li Xian should also be asked to do it... But there is no rush. We can wait until the development is relatively mature in the Zhenguan year before providing assistance. Now we should start basic education first. As the saying goes, trees will grow in ten years. It takes a hundred years to cultivate people, and education is the cornerstone of scientific and technological development and progress.”

As he said that, Li Qing felt that he couldn't just pay like this, he had to collect some interest anyway.

So his eyes rolled to his heart, he patted Li Shimin on the shoulder and said, "Brother Li, do you still remember Li Xian?"

"Ah! That loser!" When Li Shimin thought of Li Xian, he felt bad.

Damn it, why are there such insects in my descendants?
Li Qing looked at the rising emotion value and secretly felt happy. He continued to say to Li Shimin: "Actually, you don't know something. Li Xian, Emperor Zhongzong of the Tang Dynasty, is known as the Six Emperor Pills..."

"What do you mean, dear brother?"

This sentence of "Six Emperor Pills" cannot be solved by Li Shimin.

"It means that his father is the emperor, his mother is also the emperor, he himself is also the emperor, his brother Li Dan is also the emperor, his son (young emperor Li Chongmao, posthumously named) is also the emperor, and his eldest nephew is also the emperor, so he is called Liubit Imperial Pill.”

"Of course, there is another six emperors to play, who is Empress Xiao of the former Sui Dynasty..." Li Qing said and changed the subject: "Since the death of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, he has served Yu Wenhua and , Dou Jiande, Chuluo Khan, Jieli Khan and you..."

Li Shimin became famous again.

(End of this chapter)